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How to Build a High Performance Business

A high performance business is created by building a high performance team. A high performance team is created by studying, building, and expecting excellence from all your staff.

I have had the opportunity to lead quite a few high performance teams over the years. I can say that it is so much easier to spend the time and money to build a high performance team than it is to limp along with “bums in chairs!”

High performance teams can overcome incredible obstacles.

I was leading a team quite a few years ago and we were utilizing a new technology for the control of an offshore platform. We had bid the project with a tight margin and our profitability completely depended on us being able to automate the programming of this control system. This would save us thousands of man hours and hundreds of thousands of dollars. However, it had never been done before and this was a huge risk!

I pulled together the best team I could find. It seemed very counterintuitive at the time. I was using people who were very expensive for a project that was large in scope and limited in budget. However, this high priced and high performance team exceeded even my expectations and we were able to turn that high risk, tightly bid project into about a 40% margin project!

So, how do you build a high performance team?

8 Conditions of a High Performance Team

The obvious answer of just hiring the best people you can find is only half of the solution. The real work in building a high performance team is to create an environment that allows the high performance team to work at peak performance!

According to Marcus Buckingham, an environment that results in your team scoring high in each of the following questions results in a high performance team:

I am really enthusiastic about the mission of my company

At work I clearly understand what is expected of me

I have a chance to use my strengths everyday at work

In my work I am always challenged to grow

I have great confidence in my company’s future

My teammates have my back

In my team I am surrounded by people who share my values

I know I will be recognized for excellent work

Buckingham goes on to say that if your team scores high on points 2 and 3 above that you will be head and shoulders above most of your competition.

Take Action

Do an informal survey of your team on these 8 points or purchase Buckingham’s online survey for your organization. Determine where the pain points are and start building an environment that fosters a high performance team!